Remote controlled circuit breakers are used in energy management systems and home automation systems to automatically control the application of power to a variety of electrical loads. Manufacturing industries, in particular, use remote controlled circuit breakers in conjunction with peak-shaving devices to limit the amount of energy consumed The remote controlled circuit breakers disable less important electrical loads when energy consumption begins to rise above a certain "peak" amount. Since the cost of energy disproportionately rises for consumption above the "peak" amount, the remote controlled circuit breakers help manage energy costs.
Many remote controlled circuit breakers require an external low voltage power supply. Control lines connected to each remote controlled circuit breaker deliver an actuation signal which renders the circuit breaker conductive or non-conductive to connect or disconnect line voltage to or from respective loads. When actuation signals are delivered simultaneously to more than one circuit breaker, the power supply must provide enough power to actuate all of the circuit breakers which receive an actuation signal. Since the power supply may be required to actuate a number (N) of circuit breakers simultaneously, it must be capable of providing N times the power or current required to actuate a single circuit breaker. Therefore a relatively large and expensive power supply is required in this case.
The size and cost of the power supply, however, is not the only disadvantage of the above-described remote controlled circuit breaker system. If a number of large electrical loads are energized simultaneously, the line voltage sags momentarily until steady state conditions are reestablished. Substantial sags in the line voltage can induce undesirable voltage transients on the power system.